Skeletons can spawn almost anywhere in the Overworld at a light level of 7 or less, in groups of up to 4. 80% of skeletons spawned directly under the sky spawn as strays in Snowy Tundra, Snowy Mountains, Ice Spikes, Frozen River, Frozen Ocean, and Deep Frozen Ocean biomes. In the Nether, they can also spawn in nether fortresses at a light level of 7 or less in place of a wither skeleton.

Skeleton horsemen spawn when a skeleton trap is triggered by a player. The skeletons ride on skeleton horses and are equipped with enchanted bows and iron helmets, and have damage immunity for 3 seconds after spawning, In Bedrock Edition they are only immune from lightning bolts.

0–2 bones. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 bones with Looting III.

0–2 arrows. The maximum drop is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 arrows with Looting III.

Any picked-up equipment has a 100% chance of dropping, and drop with the same damage level it had when picked up.

Any naturally spawned equipment (including the bow) has 8.5% chance of dropping if killed by the player (9.5% with Looting I, 10.5% with Looting II and 11.5% with Looting III). It is usually badly damaged, and has a chance of being enchanted.

During Halloween (October 31), skeletons have a 22.5% chance of spawning wearing a carved pumpkin and a 2.5% chance of spawning wearing a jack o'lantern. If these skeletons are killed using a tool enchanted with Looting, the pumpkin or jack o'lantern can drop with a chance equivalent to the level of Looting (up to 3% chance with Looting III).

Dueling skeletons. Note that the skeleton on the left has turned red due to taking damage from the other skeleton.

Skeletons chase any player or iron golem they see within 16 blocks. They can climb stairs, navigate mazes, and traverse other complex obstacles to get within shooting range. When they are within 15 blocks of the player with a clear line of sight, they stop chasing and start shooting with arrows, one arrow every 2 seconds (1 on hard difficulty). They can strafe at a player's walking speed in circular patterns to try to dodge attacks during the process, and retreat to safe range if the player comes too close (4 blocks or less) to them. The detection range of skeletons is reduced to half of their normal range (8 blocks) while the player wears a skeleton mob head.

The skeleton's accuracy is based on the difficulty. Skeletons have an "error" of 10 on easy, 6 on normal, and 2 on hard. This is compared to the player's "error" of 1. To account for gravity, skeletons aim 0.2 blocks higher for every block horizontal they are from the target.

If a skeleton's arrow hits certain hostile mobs, that mob attacks the skeleton the same way it would attack the player, if it was not hit by the player first. If a skeleton is attacked by another mob (usually another skeleton), it may attack that mob, reorienting on the player once that mob is dead.

If spawned with no weapon at all (which can be spawned with /summon skeleton ~ ~ ~ {HandItems:[{id:air,Count:1b}]}), a skeleton acts like a zombie (though faster), coming at the player with arms outstretched and damaging the player by touching them.

Skeletons are also able to climb ladders, but only when forced to, as their AI does not handle ladders in a special way.

Skeletons holding tipped arrows in their offhand always shoot that type of arrow; these arrows are not consumed.

Bedrock Edition

Skeleton shooting

When its target is closer, a skeleton shoots faster, but deals less damage. Skeletons make no attempt to avoid being hit. An underwater skeleton can use a melee attack only to attack its target and cannot use its bow.

Wearing head armor (the helmet absorbs the damage but may take several day cycles before it wears out completely).

If not wearing a helmet, they may make some attempt to seek out shade during the day, or enter bodies of water to protect themselves from burning up. Unlike zombies, which always chase the player if they see one, skeletons do not exit the shade area even if attacking a player. Burning skeletons have a 50% chance of shooting flaming arrows if the regional difficulty is 3 or greater.

A pack of wolves attacking a skeleton. Note the red angry eyes on the wolves.

Like zombies, some spawned skeletons have the ability to pick up dropped items from the ground. If a picked up item is armor, a carved pumpkin, a jack o'lantern, or a mob head, a skeleton equips itself with the item. If the picked up item is a weapon or tool, the skeleton uses the item as a melee weapon.

Skeletons spawn already-armed with bows, which may also be enchanted. The chances of that event are listed below and are taken from the game's code. If a skeleton spawns wearing multiple pieces of armor, the armor is never mismatched (i.e. all pieces are made of the same material).

↑ abEnchantment is the same as on an enchantment table at level 5–22.[note 1]

If a skeleton does spawn with armor, the chances of specific armor are as follows:

Armor

Easy & Normal

Hard

Boots

100%

100%

Boots & Leggings

75%

90%

Boots & Chestplate & Leggings

56.25%

81%

Full set

42.19%

72.9%

The chances of it being of a particular material are:

Armor Type

Chance

Leather

37.06%

Gold

48.73%

Chain

12.90%

Iron

1.27%

Diamond

0.04%

Skeleton armor is not damaged from most damage sources, which means it cannot "wear out" the way player armor does. Helmets (not blocks like carved pumpkins) on skeletons can wear away and break if the skeleton is exposed to daylight or has an anvil or other falling block dropped on its head.

If a skeleton has a bow and a sword is given, it drops the bow (with the same chance as if killed with Looting I) and starts using the sword. If a skeleton has a sword or bow in its hand, and one of a better type or with better enchantments is given, the skeleton drops the existing weapon (with the same chance as if killed with Looting I) in favor of the better one. Any skeleton that spawns with equipment (picked-up items don't count) gives 1–3 extra experience points per item.

Skeletons, zombies and zombie pigmen can now pick up dropped items. They also have the ability to wear armor and wield a weapon, so if they pick up armor, they wear it. If they pick up a weapon, they wield it. However, there is a bug that skeletons fire arrows when wielding a sword.

Skeletons, zombies, and zombie pigmen can now spawn wearing any type of armor (including chain); both armor and weapons may be enchanted.

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